Charlotte Louisa Hawkins Dempster (1835–1913) was a Scottish novelist, essayist and author, noted also as a collector of

folklore Folklore is the body of expressive culture shared by a particular group of people, culture or subculture. This includes oral traditions such as Narrative, tales, myths, legends, proverbs, Poetry, poems, jokes, and other oral traditions. This also ...

, especially in the Highland county of

Sutherland Sutherland () is a Counties of Scotland, historic county, registration county and lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area in the Scottish Highlands, Highlands of Scotland. The name dates from the Scandinavian Scotland, Viking era when t ...

. She spent much of her life in France.''The Feminist Companion to Literature in English'', eds Virginia Blain, Patricia Clements and Isobel Grundy (London, Batsford, 1990), pp. 280–81.

Literature and folklore

Charlotte Louisa Hawkins was born 10 April 1835 at

Forfar Forfar (; , ) is the county town of Angus, Scotland, and the administrative centre for Angus Council, with a new multi-million-pound office complex located on the outskirts of the town. As of 2021, the town had a population of 16,280. The town ...

in Scotland. Her name was later styled Charlotte Dempster. She was educated at home by masters in various subjects, but spent her late teens in Paris. Dempster's first published work was an essay entitled "The Literary Remains of Albrecht Dürer", which appeared in the ''

Edinburgh Review The ''Edinburgh Review'' is the title of four distinct intellectual and cultural magazines. The best known, longest-lasting, and most influential of the four was the third, which was published regularly from 1802 to 1929. ''Edinburgh Review'', ...

'' in July 1861.Charlotte Dempster
Susan Brown, Patricia Clements, Isobel Grundy (The Orlando Project) 2006-2010 She became involved in controversy over the role and importance of the 17th-century

Dorothy Osborne Dorothy Osborne, Lady Temple (1627–1695) was an English writer of Letter (message), letters and wife of Sir William Temple, 1st Baronet. Life Osborne was born at Chicksands Priory, Bedfordshire, England, the youngest of twelve children of Pet ...

, after reviewing Edward Abbott Parry's edition of her correspondence for the same journal in 1888. She accused Parry of having a "gushy and self-conscious style" and unnecessarily interfering with the text. Dempster became a member of the

Folklore Society The Folklore Society (FLS) is a registered charity under English law based in London, England for the study of folklore. Its office is at 50 Fitzroy Street, London home of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland. It wa ...

, publishing articles in its journal, reading papers before the Second International Folk Congress, and serving the folklore committee assembled for the

World's Columbian Exposition The World's Columbian Exposition, also known as the Chicago World's Fair, was a world's fair held in Chicago from May 5 to October 31, 1893, to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the New World in 1492. The ...

in 1893. An autobiography edited by Alice Knox was published in 1920. It had been completed in the year before her death in 1913.

Novels

According to a modern critic, Dempster's novels "use a variety of settings to treat potentially serious subjects in a superficial way." Her book ''The Hôtel du Petit St. Jean. A Gascon Story'' appeared in 1869, but ''Vera'', said to be the first novel, in 1871. Others were ''Iseulte'' (1875), ''Blue Roses'' (1877), ''Within Sound of the Sea'' (1879), ''Marjorie's Husband'' (1888) ''Ninette: an Idyll of Provence'' (1888), ''The Dance of the Hours'' (1893) and ''The Year Book of the Holy Souls'' (1901). A cookery book of Dempster's, ''Australian Beef and Mutton and How to Make the Best of them'' came out in 1872. A volume of her essays appeared in the same year, and a travel volume, ''The Maritime Alps and their Seaboard'' in 1884.British Library catalogues. Demster became a member of the

, publishing articles in its journal and reading papers before the Second International Folk-Congress, and serving the folklore committee assembled for the

in 1893.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dempster, Charlotte Louisa Hawkins 1835 births 1913 deaths British folklorists British women folklorists Scottish folklorists Scottish women folklorists Scottish writers English-language writers from France